Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney offers unique gameplay, a great experience and a very intriguing and capturing story.
The game focuses on the main character: Phoenix Wright. A rookie in the beginning of the story, but after time goes by, he becomes a real defense attorney, with the help of the evidence, his objections and of course, his friends and rivals. The game offers a great experience, which leaves you astonished for several days. Also the humor in this game is to be recognized. It is fairly good and doesn't spoil the gameplay.
In the beginning of the game, you'll go through a tutorial, where you'll learn the basics of a trial. It's very simple: find contradictions in the witness's testimony and you'll get your grip on the case, whether it is a large grip or a small grip, it doesn't matter. As long as you can find them, you'll accumulate them and eventually, in theory, you should solve the case, by presenting the facts.
The gameplay is very unique; with proofs and objections you should be able to find contradictions, helping you to get a clearer view on the case and eventually solving it. These basics are very simple, but also very efficient, since this is the only way to prove a victim's innocence or proving his or her guilt. Although this sounds repetitive, it is certainly not. On the contrary, it is very interesting, since you'll find new ways of finding proofs and also, all cases are linked together. They all have something to do with each other. In addition to this: the story is also very unique, not only as a collection of stories, but also each story is as interesting as the previous one. It doesn't lose its uniqueness and that's the main thing this game relies on: its unique story. Without it, the game would be a standard game.
But not only the story is unique, also the way of finding proofs is very interesting. In the beginning you can pick things up and add them to your court record, which you can use for showing contradictions or for clearing things up. Later on, you will have more tools at your order, like a fingerprinting set, which allows you to observe objects on the existence of fingerprints or luminol testing fluid, which allows you to find bloodstains which have been wiped off.
Also the use of the stylus is remarkably simple and effective. No other handheld is able to bring out this game, only the Nintendo Dual Screen (Lite) with its stylus is able to bring up this unique gameplay. You can use the stylus to check objects in your court record to find clues in the place of the crime and its surroundings, also it is a good way of pressing the witness fast when he or she is finished with his sentence in his or her testimony.
This is one way to press the witness, the other way is the voice recognition, which works very good. It immediately recognizes when you say: hold it! You can sometimes use the y button to activate the recognition, if you don't feel like using the stylus, or if you just want to know how it feels like to be an attorney.
As for saving, it is very simple: every case has its own amount of chapters, between the chapters you can save. But also, between the conversations, or during one, you will be able to save your game. The only bad thing is: you can only save and suspend the game. You cannot save and continue, then you have to suspend and from the main screen, you can press continue.
I did however find a flaw between all these positive notes. And that is the fact that if you have noticed a contradiction, you sometimes don't know how to tell it. You have to find and reveal the contradiction in pressing and showing evidence, but sometimes you don't know what to press or what to show in order to reveal the contradiction. This is annoying, but luckily doesn't ruin the gameplay.
The graphics are fairly good, it reminds you of anime movies. Although, when analyzing the graphics, and when enlarging them, they look like drawings. Nothing to worry about though, since they still look very good. The proofs are very detailed, you can immediately see what they represent. Also the characters look very realistic, even though they're game characters.
The sound is perfect. The music it plays when finding decisive proof, the music it plays when showing proof. It all fits perfectly. And when everyone is all interested in the story, or when the case is starting to get very interesting, the music goes faster than normal, and that does seem perfect for you, since also the player would want to know what's going on and this is a nice way to get you all excited and continue playing.
Its value is very high, the game offers you hours and hours of gameplay, which consists of court sessions, finding clues, etcetera. And most of the time, you’ll enjoy this game, sometimes it seems repetitive, but after a while, you’ll notice that the cases are becoming more and more difficult, also you’ll find more clues which make the game harder to finish. Also, in addition to these challenges, the story will keep you on playing, until you know every detail. Though, there’s less to no replay value. But don’t let this scare you off, since this game will leave some great experience behind when having finished it.
If there would be a prize for most original game, the award would definitely go to this DS game. It just offers unique gameplay which is also very enjoyable. Never has there been an attorney game which is as popular as this one. It just keeps you playing and playing, and there’s no stopping, since it’s addictive.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is an instant classic, based on its uniqueness and its great gameplay and story. It’s a game you should have in your collection, when you’re the owner of a Dual Screen (Lite). You don’t want to miss this great experience, the game is offering.